It is a well know problem that challenges food preparers of all levels of skill that certain vegetables release vapors that irritate the eyes when they are being prepared for consumption. The most notable of those are onions.
In addition to the discomfort from gases that irritate the lachrymal glands making the eyes tear, the preparer is often in a situation of potential physical harm when they are using a knife or other sharp tools and need to see clearly what is being cut through their tears.
Although there are a number of suggested techniques to eliminate or reduce the ferocity of the vapors . . . like short term placement in the freezer, cutting under water or near hot running water steam, there is no standard promise of them working.
More recently the use of air sealed goggles is being offered as a solution but they are not unique to the wearer and fail when the user's face does not fit the standard form allowing vapors to eventually reach the eyes. The use of goggles is not usually chosen by those who wear prescription glasses and there is an obvious safety need to see properly while using sharp utensils and other such devices.
Those who have newer counter/cook top level exhaust fans are having some success in preventing the problem by drawing the vapors away from the cutting area on a horizontal plane.
That success leads to the conclusion that the solution is to prevent the vapors from reaching the eyes, which is very difficult during the normal food preparation activities, especially because the simple act of breathing draws the vapors being released by the food upward toward the face to the nostrils just below the eyes.
With the increased popularity of outdoor cooking on grills the problem of eye irritation from the smoke created by food juices and flavor coatings coming in contact with the heat source has heightened. The cook needs to be on guard to quickly step away a safe distance which takes a good amount of concentration and experience to avoid eye damage from the vapors.
There are various devices designed to protect the face during industrial, medical and military activities that could be used, but they are not very affordable or comfortable to wear, nor practical for the typical home cooking environment.
Other devices use battery operated fans to cool the head of a person wearing a hat and some clip on the visor to blow a curtain of air over the face for cooling as well. The problem with those systems is that they use air from the surrounding area which is usually in the front space of the wearer that becomes populated with eye irritating vapors created during the above mentioned activities. The food preparer usually tilts their head downward to concentrate on what they are doing which accelerates the front and hat top attached fans ability to draw contaminated vapors and blow them into the eyes that increases the irritation.